The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963: Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

At Kenny’s school, Clark Elementary, there’s a bully named Larry Dunn. Larry rules over everyone in kindergarten through fourth grade, but he’s not the most powerful student in school—that would be Byron and his friend Buphead, both of whom are in sixth grade and are the oldest kids in school, since they (like Larry Dunn) had to repeat some grades. Larry Dunn picks on Kenny, but not as much as he probably would if Kenny weren’t related to Byron. For example, Kenny once found a dollar and foolishly showed it to Larry Dunn. Instead of just taking the whole dollar, though, Larry Dunn went to the school’s store, got change, and only kept 50 cents. Kenny knows Larry would’ve kept the whole dollar if he weren’t afraid of Byron.

There are a couple things that attract negative attention to Kenny. For instance, there’s the fact that he loves to read. Once teachers find out how good he is at reading, they start bringing him around to other classes and having him show off his talent. He loves this until one day he finds himself in Byron and Buphead’s class. Byron’s scary teacher encourages Kenny to read Langston Hughes. He also tells the class that, as young Black people in the United States, they will experience many challenges. The ability to read well, he says, is a vital skill for any Black person making their way through the “hostile” environment of a racist country.

Byron’s teacher tells him to stop glaring at Kenny, saying that he might learn a thing or two from his younger brother. Kenny is sure Byron will beat him up later for showing off, but he’s surprised to find that Byron seems somewhat proud of him. Byron even tells Buphead to leave his brother alone and jokes that, if he were in Kenny’s position, he’d charge the teachers money to parade him around to read in different classes. Seeing that Byron isn’t going to bully Kenny for being smart, nobody else gives him a hard time for it, either.

However, many students at Clark Elementary do make fun of Kenny for having a lazy eye. Kenny is very self-conscious about his inability to make both his eyes look in the same direction, but Byron gives him some advice. He tells Kenny that, if he doesn’t want people to focus on his lazy eye, he should just stand so that people can only see one side of his face. Kenny thinks this is pretty good advice, but he still gets picked on. He’s nervous that Byron will one day graduate from Clark Elementary and no longer be there to protect him. He knows, after all, what it’s like not to have his brother to watch over him, since Byron often skips school. Just before getting on the bus in the morning, he’ll frequently sneak away.

After Byron sneaks away from the bus one day, Kenny gets on and rides in the front seat—that’s where it’s safest when Byron’s not there, since the driver can protect him from bullies. Suddenly, the driver stops because two students are running for the bus. When the two boys get on, Kenny sees that they’re brothers. They’re new at Clark. The older one grins, looks at everyone, and says “Hiya, y’all!” Everyone bursts out laughing at him, and Larry Dunn chucks an apple at him. The driver intervenes and tells the older boy to sit next to Kenny. Kenny is elated because he thinks the arrival of this new boy will mean that people no longer pick on him, since they’ll be focused on making fun of the new kid, whose name is Rufus.